The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-12-27

MN, ana ne naturally concluded was
a suspicious character, anu took me u
/ the station. As / was registered they
searched me, and when the jewelry
came to light there was great astonish-
mept and rejoicing, and the charge Of
grand larceny was at once entered
. against me.
On the night previous a iewelry
store on Superior street had been
robbed of large amount of jewelry,
and the robbers had got away, leaving
no clew for the detectives. This was
some of the plumber. / told them
! where / found it, but az / would not
tell them who l was, or any thing
about myself. my find was declared too
thin. Under the same circumstances
to-day / would do just as the officers
did then. They regarded my green
ness as assumed for the occasion, and
the newspapers put me down as one
of the sharpest and shrewdest thieves
in the country. Every iEducement
was held out to me to give away my
older men and tougher characters, and
my inability 20 do il WAS laid 10 shreWd-
ness and nerve The only lame point
with the detectives was tbs fact thst /
was on nay way into the city VIXEN cap
tured. and that l was showing myself
openly and boldly. 1t was hard 10 be-
lieve that robber would hang about
town with his pockets full of plumber,
but they got over this By saying it was
g shrewd move on my part TO throw
them off the scent
Had / acknowledged my identity,
Uncle Jabc1 would have come on to de-
ferd and clear me, but would have also
taken me back and shrsshed me within
an inch Of my life. / dreaded him
more than State prison, and, there
fore, when the trial came on | had
nothing TO say, and wa sentenced to
State prison for three years l was
glad of it would be OF age when I
came out, snd n no one would hear of
me in the interval, / would have moth
ing to fear from nay tyrsnt OF al uncle
The fact that / served only four
months of my sentence was due TO the
efforts OF one Odd detective in another
ease. had forgotten to tell you sass
TIE jeweler and two Of the clerks had
fully identified" me a. "a person
who had been IN the store several
times just previous to tho robbery"
. -i,+. hat 10 sp11
ring for two dollars. and one of the
clerks testified on the stand that stood
for half an hour and bartered with him
about silver watch
Then you positively swear he IL the
person?" asked my counsel in each
case.
81 do" was the decided answer.
] could have shown that | was
twenty-five miles sway at the time,
and that had never stepped foot in
Cleveland before the morning of my
arrest, but for reasons which have
stated, made no effort in my own do
Tense I went OFF TO prison with COM
paratively light heart knowing my
own innocence ] had been q convict
for four months when, one day, /
was called ia5o the wardon's Office
Theirs were several gentlemen
present. and among them ! rec
oganized the Cuyahoga County
prosecuting attorney and two Cieve-
land detectives The prosecutor be-
gan by declaring that / was an limo
cent man, and then sxked for my story.
Under romise that they would not be-
tray me gave IL To them. 1t seems
that the detective, in working up an
other case, had fallen upon the jewelry
robbers and secured most of the
plumber. There Were three of them,
all old hands, and the stuff found had
been lost by them as they drove out of
the city. Robbers though they were,
they did me good turn by denying
that had any hand in the affair. In
deed, after the case was opened. the
detectives saw that biunder had been
made in arresting me- The gentleman
had come with pardon from the Gov
ernor and ! returned TO Cleveland with
them on the promise or employment.
To test the value of the people at the
jewelry store as witnesses the detective
took me in there and asked if they
had ever seen me before. Four months
could not have changed me much, and
yet those who have sworn so boldly
against me on the stand now denied
ever having seen me before.
| have been a detective for years,
but that circumstance has been upper
most in my mind when | had 4 case
where the identity of a prisoner was
to be sworn TO. Ihave always cautioned
my witnesses not 10 testify unless sat
isfied beyond all doubt. My caution
has several times operated to let bad
man ,-a,,,, 81, "a, 3 81, 1,~,-